Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Games developer Blizzard has confirmed it is cancelling its massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Titan because after spending seven years and an estimated$50m or more developing the title, it just wasn't working out.

"We had created World of Warcraft, and we felt really confident that we knew how to make MMOs. So we set out to make the most ambitious thing that you could possibly imagine. And it didn't come together," CEO Mike Morhaime told Polygon.

"We didn't find the fun. We didn't find the passion. We talked about how we put it through a reevaluation period, and actually, what we reevaluated is whether that's the game we really wanted to be making. The answer is no."

Blizzard has enjoyed enormous success with its MMO World of Warcraft, convincing millions to part with $15 a month to play the game. But WoW will be ten years old this year and is losing players' interest, so it was hoped Titan would provide a new revenue stream for the firm.

Blizzard isn't planning to stop running WoW any time soon. In fact, Chris Metzen, Blizzard's senior vice president of story and franchise development, said that he hopes the game will continue to be supported forever. But Titan wasn't where the company wants to be, he told Polygon.

"I'm not saying we're an old rock band. But you watch documentaries about the Rolling Stones or U2 or these bands that have lasted for a while," he said, "and there's times where they just drive each other batshit crazy. For as good as they are and the experience they have, sometimes you just don't find it, and you've got to get out of the damn studio and go have a beer and regroup."

Blizzard is currently enjoying some success with Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a digital collectible card game it released in March and which already has 20 million subscribers. While it isn't a money-spinner on par with WoW, it's still bringing in a handy chunk of change.

"I wouldn't say no to ever doing an MMO again," Morhaime said. "But I can say that right now, that's not where we want to be spending our time."